Washington State Department of Natural Resources

The head of DNR is an elected constitutional officer known as the "Commissioner of Public Lands", and is paid an annual salary of $171,765. Fifteen individuals have served the State of Washington as Commissioner of Public Lands, two of whom (Taylor and Case) served non-consecutive terms. Otto A. Case also served as Washington State Treasurer from 1933–1937 and 1941–1945. The Commissioner of Public Lands is seventh in the line of succession to the office of Governor of Washington, immediately after the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The current Commissioner of Public Lands is Dave Upthegrove, who was elected on November 5, 2024. The longest-serving Commissioner of Public Lands is Bert Cole, who served 24 years from 1957 to 1981 and the second longest-serving Commissioner of Public Lands is Bryan Boyle, who served 12 years from 1981 to 1993. ==Divisions==

• Aquatic Resources • Conservation, Recreation, and Transactions • Engineering and General Services • Financial Management • Forest Practices • Forest Resources • Geology and Earth Resources (often abbreviated as "DGER") • Human Resources • Information Technology • Product Sales and Leasing • Wildland Fire Management ==Management of public lands==

Aquatic reserves The Department of Natural Resources has established aquatic reserves throughout the state to protect important native ecosystems on state-owned aquatic lands. Through its aquatic reserves, DNR promotes the preservation, restoration, and enhancement of state-owned aquatic lands that are of special educational, scientific, or environmental interest. Managing aquatic reserves does not affect private or other adjacent land ownership. ==Law enforcement==

The DNR employs approximately 15 law enforcement officers, who are stationed throughout the state. These officers patrol lands owned or managed by the DNR. DNR officers are full-authority law enforcement officers while they are on DNR lands. Under state law, DNR officers are considered to be limited authority law enforcement officers, as their state law enforcement authority is only applicable on lands owned by or under the jurisdiction of the DNR. The majority of county sheriffs in Washington have commissioned all of their local DNR officers as county deputies, allowing them to exercise full authority as law enforcement officers throughout the county, not only on DNR lands. DNR officers are dispatched by the Washington State Patrol. == Tribal relations ==

The DNR established government-to-government relations with the federally recognized tribal governments in Washington state in the late 20th century. The Centennial Accord of 1989, the Millennium Agreement of 1999, and the Commissioner's Order on Tribal Relations in 2010 all outline the agency's policies for consultation with tribal governments. Annual summits between the DNR and tribal governments are held to resolve conflicts of interests between tribes and the agency. ==Natural hazards==

The DNR maintains a portal with natural hazard information for the public including tsunamis; landslides and earthquakes; volcanoes and lahars; and "mineral hazards" (asbestos, heavy metals and naturally occurring uranium, and radon gas) in the State of Washington. Its responsibilities of land management and protection also include planning and funding response to wildfires within Washington. Since 2016 specifically, measures were passed to develop the DNR's involvement in wildfire combating. HB 2376 in 2017 would fund the DNR with $215,000 to create a 20-Year Forest Health Strategic Plan for forestland treatment, to expand the Department's system of assessing and treating lands, among other things. Following legislation in the coming years, the DNR put forth the so-called 10-Year Plan in 2019, which created distinct goals, such as improving wildfire preparedness and recovery systems or strengthening land, and was set to receive $500 million across 8 years as decided by House Bill 1168, passed in 2021. In more recent endeavours, Dave Upthegrove appealed to the state Legislature for an additional $104.8 million in wildfire response funding, considering both decreasing subsidies from WA state itself and federal funding cuts for organisations like the US Forest Service under the Trump administration. In 2025, the agency partnered with Pano AI to enable access to 21 live, panoramic cameras throughout the state in wildfire-prone areas; the video streams are available for public view online. ==References==